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[[File:dealwiththedevilpatf.jpg|link=The Princess and the Frog|frame|[[Affably Evil|Come on boys,]] won't you shake [[Schmuck Bait|a poor sinner's hand?]]]]
{{quote|''"History has proven a thousand times that no man has ever gained from a bargain with The Dark, yet cowards and fools continue to try, and The Dark never turns them away."''
|'''The Mayor''', ''[[Myth]]''}}
You know how it works. Want to be a millionaire, or to get back at that obnoxious boss? Well travel down to [[At the Crossroads|those crossroads]] and [[Louis Cypher|Mr. S]] will guarantee your wildest dreams, if you just sign on the dotted line with your own blood. This trope is [[Older Than Steam]], and does not even require the Abrahamic Devil; any [[Tricksters]] or evil deity roughly equivalent to [[Satan]] can be used. It reached its current version in the 16th-century legend of [[Faust]] selling his soul to Mephistopheles (who technically isn't ''quite'' exactly Satan or Lucifer, but still a high-ranking demon).
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Soul Eater]]'', a little demon in Soul's head (who [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|resembles the Devil]], actually) offers him power in exchange for his sanity.
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** However that was more of [[Moral Event Horizon|giving them what they]] [[Karmic Death|deserved]].
** Rather subverted by his sane half though, as {{spoiler|Eruru makes the 'ALL YOUR BEING IS MINE' pledge in order to save her sister, but is never really held to it aside from being his companion.}} For a cosmic ''thing'' that offers wishes in exchange for their being, it's like he just uses that as an excuse to have friends. He even {{spoiler|completely nullifies her debt to him once he figures out his identity, with no payment or repercussions.}} His other side, on the other hand...
* This is sometimes the way Yuuko does her work in ''[[
** It isn't always the case, though. Although sometimes the results of wishes ''are'' quite nasty, sometimes the Faustian parts simply learn a lesson the hard way and move on with their lives, and there are even quite a lot of times where there are no tricks whatsoever and the whole thing is treated as a simple transsaction where both parts get what they want and happily go their own ways. In one case, an internet addict asked for Yuuko to help her break her habit - Yukko asked for an ordinary baby's chair, then destroyed her computer. When called on this, Yukko says that all she did was destroy her computer - the addict can always get a new one. Yukko hopes that seeing her computer destroyed would cause her to rethink her addiction and get help. And since destroying a computer isn't exactly all that hard to do, she didn't have to pay that high a price.
** Also, in keeping with the CLAMP mantra that the dead cannot be revived, Yuko cannot bring the dead back to life because no payment exists to make such a wish "fair".
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==
* [[Jack Chick]] has used this motif several different times, notably in ''Angels?'' and ''The Contract.''
** This is arguably a subversion, since the point of these tracts is to contend that Jesus could save you even from one of those contracts if you have the requisite faith.
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* ''Visual Novel Animamundi: Dark Alchemist'' has a nice variation on this, where the lead character sells his soul in exchange for his sister's life after she was attacked by a monster in the woods. Not only was Mephistopheles the one who attacked her in the first place, he did so because she had sold her soul to him a little while earlier in exchange for her brother's life. Naturally, Mephistopheles is quite pleased with himself for [["Gift of the Magi" Plot|that one]].
** There is also a subversion in that game. Dr. Bruno Glening wants a deal with Mephistopheles, but [[Even Evil Has Standards|Mephisto]] finds Bruno so repulsive that he rejects every attempt, and it has gotten to the point where he even refuses to answer the man's summons.
* In what was likely a case of [[Stupid Evil]] taken [[Up to Eleven]], [[Doctor Strange]]'s old enemy Baron Mordo tried to obtain power by selling his soul to not one, but ''two'' powerful demonic entities, Mephisto and Satannish. He got greater power, but it wasn't enough to defeat Strange, and things got much, much, worse when both demons came to collect. Mordo had counted on Strange to save him, but the two demons started fighting each other over Mordo's soul, each one apparently willing to destroy the Earth before letting the other have it. Strange managed to drive them away with a ritual that would have merged them together into the evil singularity they originally were, forcing them to flee to avoid it, and seeing as they haven't bothered Mordo since, the contracts he made with them seem to have been annulled somehow.
* Subverted by Thanos in Marvel's ''The Infinity Crusade''. Mephisto offers a key piece of information in subduing the Goddess in exchange for one of her [[Cosmic Keystone|cosmic containment units]]. When Mephisto later returns after the conflict has concluded to collect his payment, he decides to test his new toy against Thanos, only to realize that it is powerless. Thanos then clarifies that, while he had honored their agreement by providing Mephisto with a unit, [[Exact Words|it was never specified]] that he wanted one that ''functioned''.
{{quote|'''Thanos:''' [[Badass Boast|Even devils should beware when bargaining with Thanos of Titan.]]}}
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** Later, the Trickster himself offers Neron a bargain {{spoiler|to protect his ex-girlfriend's son and the rest of the [[Rogues Gallery]]. He asked for nothing for himself, for the same protection. Fortunately, he only later did the arithmetic for the [[Luke, You Are My Father|son]]'s age.}}
** Another interesting story with Neron came involved, weirdly enough, Santa Claus. After he'd captured the entire JLA, Santa defeated Neron by giving him a Christmas present with no strings attached and asking for nothing in return, which violated his every rule of trade and contracts. This was just a bedtime story told by Plastic Man....
* A light-hearted parody
* The recent{{when}} ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' arc '[[One More Day]]' involves {{spoiler|Spider-Man allowing Mephisto, the [[Marvel Universe]]'s version of [[Satan]] to save his Aunt May's life in exchange for undoing his marriage to the woman he loves, thus wiping away the last twenty years of his life.}} For numerous reasons (including the fact that if Mephisto was actually powerful enough to do this, the entire [[Marvel Universe]] would be screwed, since he'd use the power in far more evil ways than just wiping out Spidey's marriage), many ''Spider-Man'' fans consider this particular entry to be idiotic. Even Stan Lee disregards ''[[One More Day]]''.
** In a mild subversion, Mephisto ''doesn't'' bargain for Peter or Mary Jane's souls, and in fact tells them that he stopped making that deal ages ago. That's because the souls of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to save another suffer nobly for all eternity..."and really, where's the fun in that?"
** In ''[[Spider Girl]]'', Spidey's clone Kaine also makes a deal with [[Ghost Rider|the demon Zarathos]] to try and save Daredevil's life after a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. His [[Ill Girl|Ill Boy]] [[Cloning Blues|"nephew"]] ends up a victim of [[Demonic Possession]] instead. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Nice Job Breaking It, Anti-Hero]].
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* In ''[[Hack Slash]]'' a wannabe rocker named Jeffrey Brevard ("Six Sixx") sells his soul and the souls of his band to an entity he thinks is the Devil ([[Eldritch Abomination|it's not]]) in exchange for fame and fortune (and demonic powers). As a part of the deal he also has to supply his benefactor with virgins for... [[Naughty Tentacles|breeding]] [[Mars Needs Women|purposes]]. Also, [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy|Elvis apparently got his talent from the same entity.]]
* In ''[[The Warlord]]'' Deimos, who'd been reduced to a head on a hand by that point, makes a deal with The Evil One to restore his body, as payment the Evil One takes Deimos' magic skill, which Deimos needs to fight the Warlord.
* In an old comic{{context}}, a shopkeeper makes a deal with what looks like a devil, and spends the rest of his life being nice and all that jazz. Then, when he's about to die, the being appears and tells him he's an angel. So, the guy goes to heaven.
* Invoked by name in the ''[[Squadron Supreme]]'' limited series when Tom Thumb tries to get a cancer cure from the Scarlet Centurion, a [[Conqueror From the Future]].
* In ''[[Batman]] 666'', [[Future Badass]] Damian Wayne, having taken the mantle of Batman, made a deal with the Devil to protect Gotham. Even when pumped full of bullets, he survived and his injuries healed almost immediately afterwards with no lasting effects.
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* ''[[Gen 13]]'': Heroine Caitlin Fairchild resolves a [[Brought Down to Normal]] storyline by making a deal with [[Big Bad|series villainess]] [[The Baroness|Ivana Baiul]]: restore her [[Hot Amazon]] powers now, in exchange for performing one mission for Ivana sometime in the future. The plot hook is left alone until Adam Warren's run, where he has Ivana call in the favor for one issue—only to reveal that she'd been repeatedly using Fairchild on missions, only to [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|erase her memory of the job, and of repaying her debt, every time]].
* Kicks off the entire plot in ''[[Tanpopo]]'.
* In ''[[Nth Man: The
* In ''[[Irredeemable]]'', the Hornet made a deal with alien invaders: they would leave Earth alone and help [[Beware the Superman|bring down the Plutonian]] if [[Face Heel Turn|Hornet's suspicions were borne out]]; in return, the Hornet would provide the aliens with [[Teleporters and Transporters|teleportation]] technology and the locations of other planets to invade instead.
* [[The Punisher|Frank Castle]] makes one in the alternate timeline Marvel MAX. The comic ''Born'' depicts his final battles in Vietnam before being sent back home, and has him stationed at a run-down base manned mostly by drug addicts and slackers. So when a massive Vietcong offensive comes, the base is quickly overrun. Before long, Castle is the last man facing hordes of NVC in close combat, and a voice that had coaxed him to accept an agreement throughout the comic returns forcefully. It rams home the concept that he can either die here, never to see his wife and children again, or he can accept its terms, which will require a payment but will allow him to continue fighting a war forever. As the combat reaches a brutal fever pitch and the voice is practically shouting in his head, the Punisher growls '''''[[Wham! Line|"Yes."]]''''' {{spoiler|Later on, when he meets his wife and kids at the airport, the voice returns. It casually reminds him that it had mentioned a price, and Frank sees Maria and the children outlined by the infamous Punisher skull.}}
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* In ''[[The Smurfs]]'' comic book story "Sagratamabarb", Gargamel makes a deal with Beelzebub that, if he can get rid of his titular cousin, he would be his slave forever. It didn't turn out well for Gargamel.
▲== Fan Fic ==
* In ''[[Keepers of the Elements]]'', {{spoiler|Courtney}} makes one of these with [[Big Bad|Radcliffe]] in exchange for [[Casting a Shadow|powers]] of her own so she can get revenge on most of the Keepers, but {{spoiler|[[The Leader|Gwen]]}} in particular.
* ''[[Inner Demons]]'' has a couple of metaphorical examples. First off, Rarity outright refers to [[The Dragon|Trixie]] willingly agreeing to serve [[Big Bad|Queen!]][[Face Heel Turn|Twilight]] in her evil in exchange for power as selling her soul. Meanwhile, {{spoiler|Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo}} pledging loyalty to Queen!Twilight after she {{spoiler|[[Plot-Relevant Age-Up|ages them up]] and gives them their Cutie Marks}} fits the thematics a little better.
* The ''[[Pony POV Series]]'' has {{spoiler|Diamond Tiara agreeing to free [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Discord]] in exchange for him curing her mother's insanity (though to be fair, she didn't know who she was dealing with until the very end). Surprisingly, Discord actually keeps up his end of the bargain, but it seems that since he swore on [[Eldritch Abomination|His Parents]], he didn't have much choice in the matter -- and in any case, he managed to completely corrupt Diamond and break her to his will in the process, so he still screwed her over.}}
* Twilight's soul isn't the only thing traded away in the deal in the story [http://www.fimfiction.net/story/98797/my-name-is-twilight-sparkle My Name Is Twilight Sparkle].
* Hilariously parodied and inverted in [https://www.deviantart.com/ngtvone/art/Peace-treaty-770633453 this artwork] from [[DeviantArt]] where [[Hazbin Hotel|Charlie]] tries to broker a peace treaty with the [[Doom (2016)|Doom Slayer.]]
==
* In [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney's version]] of the ''[[Hercules (
** In the movie Meg sold her soul to Hades to save the life of her old boyfriend, who then runs off with another girl.
* The Disney version of ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' is a classic example; Ariel is given legs with which to try to win the love of a prince, but at the cost of her voice, which was actually the thing he found most attractive about her to begin with. In the original [[Hans Christian Andersen]] story, the witch is neither good nor evil, and warns the mermaid of the deal's consequences.
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* In ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]] 2'', Carface makes a deal with the [[Big Bad]] demon cat Red, a collar allowing him to be physical on Earth in exchange for his soul (though in his defense, he didn't know what Red meant by soul at the time). {{spoiler|When Red is finally defeated in the end, he is sucked into Hell and decides to cash in on the deal, having his minions drag Carface into Hell with him.}}
* In ''[[Shrek]]: Forever After'', Shrek makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to have a day for himself in exchange for a random day that he wouldn't remember after a mid-life crisis. Unfortunately, Rumpel took the day that Shrek was ''born'', [[It's a Wonderful Plot|leading to things]] [[It Got Worse|getting worse.]]
* The second half of ''[[Insomnia (film)|Insomnia]]'' revolves mainly around this.
* The ''[[Spawn]]'' movie is about a bargain with the devil which ends in the nearly total devastation of the former when the protagonist successfully uses newly acquired powers against the one who gave them.
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* In ''[[The Devil and Daniel Webster]]'', a good but rather dumb and weak man makes a deal with the devil. He gets the money he needs for his farm (and way more,) and in seven years the devil will claim his soul. The man agrees after the devil assures him that ''"souls are not important."'' After seven years he's had a son (and neglected him), got a servant that acted as his mistress, hired his former friends and taken advantage of them, and become a [[Jerkass]] while still being the dumbest man on earth. Later, Daniel Webster comes and manages to let him weasel out of the deal.
* Freddy began his horror career with one of these according to ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street|Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare]]'', offered his powers and immortality by a trio of "dream demons" who choose a human villain as their [[Psycho for Hire]] every thousand years. If they had any plan to betray him, it must've been scheduled for after he'd already brought about [[The End of the World as We Know It]]: as it is, the price he seems to have paid for his deal is that whatever shred of goodness he had as a human went completely out the window.
** The Dream Demons eventually declare that [[You Have Failed Me...]] in the ''[[Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash]]: The Nightmare Warriors'' comic, after {{spoiler|the heroes thwart Freddy's latest plan}}. They {{spoiler|strip him of his powers, allowing Ash to shoot him in the chest and knock him into a portal opened by the ''Necronomicon''.}}
* While not a literal example, the plot to Danny Boyle's ''[[Shallow Grave]]'' has been described thus.
* This is the basic premise of ''[[Stay Tuned]]'', in which a TV-addicted family man unknowingly sells his soul for a new satellite television setup with 666 channels.
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== Folklore and Fairy Tales ==
* In "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131020110357/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/armlessmaiden/index.html The Maiden Without Hands]", a miller makes a deal with the devil for "what is standing behind thy mill". He thought it was an apple tree; it was his daughter. She kept herself too pure for the devil to carry off, though, even when the devil orders the miller to cut off her hands. So the miller ended up with the money; but as soon as that happened, the daughter left to seek her fortune. Ironically enough, this may be a [[Bowdlerise]]d plot; the rest of the plot is commonly found in tales where the heroine lost her hands and left because her [[Parental Incest|father]] or [[Brother-Sister Incest|brother]] tried to force her to marry him.
* In "[
** Other variants of this type of fairy tale include "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140119234006/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/bearskin/stories/dongiovanni.html Don Giovanni de la Fortuna]", "[https://web.archive.org/web/20090319030931/http://www.gwu.edu/~folktale/GERM232/bearskin/web%20pages/SoldierandtheBadMan.html The Soldier and the Bad Man]", "[https://web.archive.org/web/20090319030926/http://www.gwu.edu/~folktale/GERM232/bearskin/web%20pages/RoadtoHell.html The Road to Hell]" (where she actively cleans him up), "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140117195302/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/bearskin/stories/rewardkindness.html The Reward of Kindness]", [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0361.html#sutermeister "The Devil As Partner" and "Never Wash"].
* Another fairytale variant: "[[Rumpelstiltskin]]". Though considering the number of escape clauses in that deal, Rumpelstiltskin made a less-than-competent Mephistopheles.
* A Polish legend tells of the nobleman Twardowski who gained magical powers thanks to such a deal. The clause was that the devil would get Twardowski's soul when Twardowski goes to Rome. Twardowski gleefully stayed away from Italy. The devil eventually captured him when he wandered into a tavern called "Rome".
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* In [[Fredric Brown]]'s short story "Naturally", the main character is about to flunk out of college, so he summons a demon to help him pass his Geometry final. But because he's bad at Geometry, he puts the wrong number of points on the pentagram and the demon simply steps out of it and carts him off to Hell. Sometimes Satan has it easy.
* In [[H.P. Lovecraft|HP Lovecraft]]'s "Dreams in the Witch House", Nyarlathotep appears to the protagnists, offering him complete control over the ability to travel outside the angled space (effectively being able make a personal wormhole between any two locations) in exchange for signing the book of Azathoth with his blood. The protagonist refuses, but judging from what [[Eldritch Abomination|kind of beings]] we're dealing with, it's probably better not to know what would've happened had he accepted the deal.
* Invoked in [[G. K. Chesterton|GK Chesterton]]'s ''[[Father Brown]]'' story ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131010042845/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/chesterton/gk/c52fb/chapter30.html The Dagger with Wings]'', a man cites the legend of Dundee, who had sold his soul to the Devil and so could be shot only with a [[Silver Bullet]].
* [[Isaac Asimov]] helped edit two collections of fantasy/science-fiction "short short" stories that included a few examples of this trope:
** A [[Complete Monster]] makes a deal to be reincarnated, and is brought back as his own horrifically-abused daughter. (''Give Her Hell'' by Donald Wollheim.)
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* The character Sinner in the ''[[Nightside]]'' book ''Hex and the City'' sold his soul for true love. Upon his death, he was told that his "true love" was actually a demonic succubus by the name of Pretty Poison, who had been roped into the job by Satan and spent ten years pretending to love him. Sinner didn't care, as from his point of view he ''was'' truly in love, and his refusal to give up resulted in Satan kicking him out of Hell because he was ruining the atmosphere. Pretty Poison got curious and followed him up, and {{spoiler|eventually got her angelic status back by sacrificing herself to save him - demons in the Nightside universe, if killed on Earth, lose all their power and become regular damned souls.}}
* In the novel ''Ascending'' of [[The League of Peoples Verse]], Oar is offered a deal by a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] called the Pollisand, who pulls out all the stops in presenting it as a Deal With The Devil scenario, complete with fire, brimstone, classical allusions, the works. {{spoiler|Subverted; Oar takes the deal and the Pollisand gives her exactly what he promised, with no apparent negative consequences whatsoever.}}
* In ''[[I, Lucifer]]'' the titular character mentions that the actual contracts are symbolic and that the ''act of signing them'' is all that matters. It's worth noting if you're not specific on the means of which Lucifer has to go about completing his end of the deal, [[Jerkass Genie|he will screw your dumbass over]].
* In ''[[The Guardians]]'', demonic bargains can be cancelled by either party before one side is filled. After that, if the other party doesn't fulfill their side, they are damned to the field of frozen faces. Demons don't bargain for literal souls, although they often ask for something that will drive the human to damnation such as betraying a friend or murdering an innocent.
* In ''[[Lonely Werewolf Girl]]'' human [[Perky Goth]] Moonglow sells her right to pursue any romantic feelings for Daniel to Malveria in return for the demon bringing an [[Only Mostly Dead]] character back to life.
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** {{spoiler|He then runs a combined [[Memory Gambit|Memory]] and [[Thanatos Gambit]] against Mab (who is the Winter Queen and ruler of a species that lives for legalese), by arranging to be assassinated and wiping his memory of the incident so that he wouldn't accidentally slip and reveal it to her. It doesn't work and she revives him but when she does, he essentially makes her back down and accept him as Winter Knight on his terms.}}
* Averted in ''[[Ars Goetia|The Lesser Key of Solomon]]''. The conjurer uses the fact that they are human (thus made in the image of God and under his protection) to get the demons to do what they want, rather than trade their soul.
* Draco Malfoy in ''[[Harry Potter and
* In [[Faction Paradox]] stories, there is a rather odd group of [[Energy Beings]] called the Celestis. They appear to be gods and demons of myth, and live in a fortress of pure meaning called Mictlan. They are not actually gods or demons. {{spoiler|They are Homeworld agents who have undergone a process that transforms their physical bodies into [[Memetic Mutation]]s, making them indestructible but dependent upon mortals continually thinking about said memes so they won't drift into oblivion.}} They work rather simply: they visit low-level planets where people are less likely to come up with some ingenious stratagem to overcome them, and there they will offer their services: they will grant you your heart's desire, with certain limitations (no godhood for ya, sorry) and upon death they have complete rights to seize your soul, drag it to Mictlan's dungeons, and set it into their [[Cold-Blooded Torture|wonderful machines]] so you have absolutely no choice but to continually think of the Celestis, [[Fate Worse Than Death|until the End of Time itself.]] Have fun.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "A Witch Shall Be Born", the [[Curse]] stems from one of these.
{{quote|''They tell how the first queen of our line had traffic with a fiend of darkness and bore him a daughter who lives in foul legendry to this day. And thereafter in each century a girl baby was born into the Askhaurian dynasty, with a scarlet half-moon between her breasts, that signified her destiny.''}}
* Subverted in [[Stephen King]]'s short story "Fair Extension" from ''[[Full Dark, No Stars|Full Dark No Stars]]'', in which a terminal cancer patient runs into a man named George [[Louis Cypher|Elvid]] who offers to cure his cancer in return for {{spoiler|''cash'' since, as the story then goes on to demonstrate, [[Humans Are
* [[Defied Trope|Defied]] in ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]''; Screwtape mentions that Hell's official policy now frowns on Faustian bargains, as they confirm the existence of the supernatural and thus undermine Hell's atheism campaign.
* In the ''[[Left Behind]]'' series, the signing of the covenant that would allow the Global Community seven years of licensed use of Chaim Rosenzweig's synthetic fertilizer formula for Israel's peace with other nations was seen as the very thing that starts the seven-year Tribulation period.
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* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', "Hide and Q."
** Another episode, "Devil's Due", involved an alien race who believed that their ancestors made a deal with the devil for a thousand years of peace and progress for their world. On the date when the contract was supposedly due, a woman named Ardra appeared, claiming to be the demon of their mythology, come to claim the planet. Picard ultimately proved that [[The Con|Ardra was merely a con artist]], using [[Magic From Technology|technology to recreate magical effects]] to convince the populace of her demonic origins.
* Almost every [[Very Special Episode]] about drugs is the Faust legend updated; either the drug dealer or the kid who turns Our Hero on to drugs is Mephistopheles. (For instance, the ''[[Ghostwriter (TV series)|Ghostwriter]]'' episode "What's Up With Alex?")
* Too many episodes of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' to count, sometimes involving a literal pact with Satan and sometimes not. Because the show was an anthology, this was one of the few shows where the Faust doesn't escape at the last minute due to [[Contractual Immortality]]. (To be fair, some 16th-century Faust stories have Faust avoid Hell.)
** In one episode, "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville", the standard trope is averted: The Devil (female, in this instance) offers to send an aging, bored, predatory business tycoon back in time with his memories intact so he can use his knowledge to experience the thrill of the pursuit again. But not in exchange for his soul—Hell ''already'' has that; instead, she wants the bulk of his fortune.
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* ''[[Lost]]'''s Michael makes a deal with the devil (in this case, the Others) to secure freedom for his son. He agrees to free "Henry" (which entails {{spoiler|killing Ana-Lucia}}) and betray four of his friends. Eventually his guilt leads him to attempt suicide.
** A much more literal example happens in season 6, when Sayid makes a deal with {{spoiler|the smoke monster}} to get "anything he wants" (implied to be Nadia) in exchange for {{spoiler|killing Dogen so Smokey can massacre everyone at the Temple}}. Turns out this was a ploy, however: the "Devil" here wasn't dealing fairly and was looking to kill Sayid along with all the other candidates. Then again, "fair" and ''Lost'' never did quite go hand in hand.
* On ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' a hair-dresser who sold her soul takes Satan (Jon Lovitz) to ''[[The People's Court]]'' for [https://web.archive.org/web/20130923190716/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/86/86ccourt.phtml breach of contract], and the Prince of Darkness tries to defend himself by pointing out the obvious.
{{quote|'''Satan:''' It's more or less customary for me to cheat mortals in this way. By observing only the letter of the agreement. For example, I'll give someone eternal youth, then have them sentenced to life imprisonment. That sort of thing. It's pretty standard. I'm the Devil!}}
** In a [https://web.archive.org/web/20130923191249/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/99/99edevil.phtml later episode], an aspiring musician considers selling his soul for a guaranteed hit, but decides against it when it becomes apparent that all the Devil's songs suck.
** In [https://web.archive.org/web/20130923190733/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/86/86qheaven.phtml yet another sketch,] a recently deceased man in Heaven is delighted to find out that his instincts about Bruce Willis and Sugar Ray Leonard having made deals with the devil are true.
** In still another sketch, a young Simon and Garfunkel make a deal with the Devil for musical success (his first piece of advice: lose the tubas, get guitars). "We're going to be friends and partners forever, right?" Simon asks the Devil at one point. His reply: [[Blatant Lies|"Yeah... Yeah, that's the ticket!"]]
* One episode of ''[[Married... with Children]]'' has Al Bundy selling his soul to the Devil for the opportunity to take the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl. Al is drafted by the Bears and has a spectacular season, but when the Bears finally get to the Super Bowl, the Devil tells Al that it's time to hand over his soul. When Al protests, the Devil points out that he only agreed to let Al take the Bears to the Super Bowl, not actually play '''in''' the Super Bowl.
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** And also Beelzeboss by Tenacious D, the song in earlier mentioned Tenacious D movie, which is arguably a parody of ''The Devil went Down To Georgia''.
** Until the [[Guitar Hero]] version, which was so ridiculously [[Nintendo Hard]] that the Devil winds up winning most of the time. It actually upset Charlie Daniels because it undermined the message of the song.
* This is the theme of Weber's opera ''[[
{{quote|Why be a fool when you can chase away
Your blind and your gloom
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{{quote|En djävulsk pakt
Ett blodskontrakt. }}
* ''The Spotted Goat'' by Echo's Children. After all, why this should be restricted only to humans?
{{quote|The spotted goat was spite with hooves, and I know what she did
She struck a bargain with Old Nick, when she was just a kid
They chewed the whole agreement o'er in yonder barren field
Whose state affirms the contract's terms in jimson weed were sealed}}
== Puppet Shows ==
* Some of the older versions of ''[[Punch and Judy]]'' have Punch make a deal like this; usually, such versions end with Punch making a [[Heel Face Turn]] and [[Faustian Rebellion]].
== Tabletop Games ==
* Used in ''[[Dungeons
** There's also a demon named Pazuzu who gives a wish in exchange for going one step closer to [[Chaotic Evil]] on the alignment chart.
** The book "Fiendish Codex 2: Lords of the Nine Hells" actually deals a lot with how devils do those Faustian deals. Devils have rules they must follow for contracts (they can't directly force someone into making a deal, for example) and hell even has its own appeal court run by a pit fiend for souls who believe their contracts were not fulfilled lawfully. And yes, while very hard-assed (you better know infernal law real well to win there), said court ''actually works'', meaning that if you are right and can plead better than the devil who made a deal with you, you ''can'' win your soul back. Because devils get your soul if you are [[Lawful Evil]] when you die, not all contracts require your soul as payment; quite a few contracts will simply require the mortal to do a series of actions that will eventually make him [[Lawful Evil]]. This method has the advantage of not giving the mortal a chance to go to court for his soul once in hell (since he's there not because of the deal, but because of his alignment).
*** The last part is actually downplayed in Fourth Edition, where you can challenge these contracts in hell and actually get a fair hearing if you do so (complete with a lawyer provided), although the only arguments considered valid are if A) the contract was signed in duress or, B) the signer did not gain what the contract promised. Although, even if a judge rules in the plaintiff's favor, the plaintiff has often done too much evil in life to be spared damnation, a situation that tends to elect a ''lot'' of [[Evil Laugh| diabolic laughter from the court officials]].
** Fourth Edition brings us the warlock class, who make pacts with extradimensional entities for magical knowledge. One of the possible pacts they can enter into is with a demon. Strangely, [[Dark Is Not Evil|this does not automatically mean that they're evil]].
*** The 3.5 supplement ''Complete Arcane'' introduced the warlock, and they got their powers in the same manner. [[Dark Is Not Evil|They also didn't have to be of a evil alignment,]] but were limited to chaotic or evil.
*** To be specific, the 4e warlock gets its powers from one of the following pacts; the dark pact, with demons; the fey pact, with [[The Fair Folk|creatures of the feywild]]; the infernal pact, with devils; the star pact, with [[Eldritch Abomination|creatures of the far realm]]; and the vestige pact, with various remnants of dead powers. These forces are generally evil, or at best extremely alien, but what prevents someone from automatically becoming evil from making these pacts is that they can actively work against their patrons, even with that power.
* From ''[[Ravenloft]]''; Strahd claims he became a vampire when he made a deal with Death itself hoping to win the love of his brother's beloved; this act doomed him forever, and made Barovia the first realm of the Demiplane of Dread.
* In ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' games:
** A variation occurs in ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'', with the beings known as [[Eldritch Abomination|the acamoth]]. The acamoth make deals with mages (and possibly other mortals) whereby they consent to allow the acamoth to enter their souls and [[Mind Rape]] them. If the mage survives with their sanity reasonably intact, the acamoth are obliged to grant them powers. The acamoth are noted to not have much interest in souls which are already corrupt, and are generally concerned with inscrutable, long-term goals (ie, conquering reality), which means they will rarely take a soul outright (a comparison is made to financial investment).
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** The most traditional variation is seen in ''[[Demon: The Fallen]]'', in which a Fallen character can make a mortal human their "Thrall". In exchange for the usual stuff like health, luck, romance, etc., the human becomes permanently bound to the Demon and has to fulfill their part of the deal in addition to supplying their master with Faith (used to cast magic). Thralls do have free will and can contemplate a [[Faustian Rebellion]] but the only way to break the connection is actually killing their master, which is not exactly simple. Additionally, there are the [[Eldritch Abomination|Earthbound]], who [[Mind Rape]] their Thralls to make them completely obedient slaves (who cannot provide them with Faith, though).
** ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' had rules for Dark Thaumaturgy, where the characters would have to make a pact with a devil in order to gain more powerful (and evil) Blood-magic. The rules even specifically stated that the Storyteller now could have the character dragged straight to Hell at any given time, like, say, if they felt the character became TOO powerful.
* The [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos Gods]] of ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer
** In any case, the road of a champion of Chaos only has two destinations: ascension to a full-fledged daemon prince, or else all the gifts and mutations cause the aspirant's mind and body to collapse into a bestial chaos spawn.
** The best part is since these are gods of ''chaos'', making a pact with them in the first place can be difficult - they're just as likely to notice and reward some dabbling nobleman than a warrior who battled for decades in their name.
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* Quite common in ''[[Deadlands]]''. Nearly all magic comes from the spirits of [[Spirit World|The Hunting Grounds]]. The nice ones are in the minority. The most common playable version of this is [[Magicians Are Wizards|The Huckster]], who has to allow a demon [[Demonic Possession|into his body]] in order to cast a spell. Just hope the Huckster isn't tricked into giving the demon too much control.
* Played straight and toyed with in ''[[Nobilis]]''. The Cammorae play both sides. They're Faust when they make a deal for whatever powers they receive and lose their humanity. They fit in the Mephistopholes role when the player characters contract them to do something. First and second edition Powers of Hell also play with this trope. Many love buying souls, with the full knowledge that such deals don't actually do anything. Humans that think they have no soul have no reason to act virtuously, and will probably become corrupt and hellbound in the process.
== Theater ==
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* Before that, there was ''[[Final Fantasy II]]''. [[Big Bad]] [[The Emperor]] made a deal with Satan (and yes, [[Satan|they do invoke him by name]] in the [[No Export for You|Japanese]] [[All There in the Manual|novelizations]])--his soul for the power to command the [[Legions of Hell]] in order to [[Take Over the World]]. And when he is killed and Satan comes to collect...[[Faustian Rebellion|the Emperor uses this power to meet Satan in combat]] ''[[Like a Badass Out of Hell|and kills him dead]]'', then goes on to ''[[Up to Eleven|conquer hell itself]]''. And if you think ''that's'' [[Crazy Awesome]]? [[Serial Escalation|He did the same thing in Heaven]].
* In the [[Spyro the Dragon|The Legend of Spyro Trilogy]], the Apes made a pact with Malefor to free him from the Well of Souls in exchange for power. Well they work their butts off to free him and he 'rewards' them {{spoiler|by turning them into undead skeletons forever condeemed to live in the dark.}}
* [[
{{quote|'''Arcturus''': They say a man doesn't know anything about himself... until his freedom's been taken away. I wonder... how much do you know about yourself?
'''Adjutant''': Please step onto the platform.
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** Also [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=854#comic this].
** And [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT1nVisnK7U this].
* According to ''[[Something
* Ray Smuckles of ''[[Achewood]]'' gains his musical talent (and, arguably, a heap of his subsequent successes) through [http://achewood.com/?date=11042002 one of these], but the consequences don't come about until [http://achewood.com/?date=12012003 over a year later].
** The [[To Hell and Back]] sequence there also references the Robert Johnson folk-tale. Also, Ray falls ass backwards into money like a pig into mud, it ain't even a thing.
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* Clare's backstory in ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]''. She can tell the people feel guilty about their children because they look like her parents did after her father accidentally sold her to the devil -- [http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/03-17.html and never tried to give back the money].
** Bearskin also has this in [http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04-24.html his backstory].
* ''[[
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', {{spoiler|Vaarsuvius tries to get one of these deals to get enough power to save his/her family. Subverted in that the powerful beings that show up to discuss the deal don't actually want V's soul's eternal damnation and act in a shocked way when V suggests that. "Oh no no no no! How would THAT be fair?" Instead, they want control of V's soul for a sharply limited time at a later point - and, not stated outright but presumed, while V's still alive. Which is arguably even worse, given the potential ramifications of having a high-level wizard directly controlled by paragons of Evil in a crucial moment. And to them, V's just a bonus. The real payoff is proving that the factions of evil can cooperate, so that they may storm the upper planes and end the war of Good vs. Evil once and for all.}}
** {{spoiler|[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0634.html "I...I must succeed"]. These fiends ARE trying to get V's soul; a few comics later they point out that all the evil acts that V is racking up are by V's own choice, and they are making V more "evil-aligned", away from the original true neutral.}}
* ''[[Sinfest]]'' begins with [https://web.archive.org/web/20061030220953/http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=1 this]...
** And repeats it every so often. [
* Parodied in [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/06/25/0071-how-not-to-deal-with-the-devil/ this strip] of ''[[Sandra and Woo]]'' as Sandra accidentally sells her soul to the devil for a glass of lemonade.
** "...but now I don't have to! Thanks, whoever did that!" You think it'd be so easy...
* ''[[
** While he's dead, it turns out he's apparently [[Good Is Not Nice|Michael the Archangel]]. Oh, great, Mike. Remembering that would have been good before you turned yourself over to the enemy.
* ''[[Remember]]'' does this, with Igon's bargain with Levistus. Unusually however, we later see Levistus '''explaining''' his reasons for accepting what at first looks like a bad deal for him.
* ''[[Demon Candy Parallel]]'' starts off with TWO of these for the same character. The first is when Johnathan accidently sells his soul to Noelle for a Klondike Bar, and the second is when he makes a deal to stay in Hell with Victoria for a year to get his soul back.
* Subverted in [http://www.rockpapercynic.com/littleworlds/index.php?date=2010-01-21 this comic] of ''[http://www.rockpapercynic.com/littleworlds Little Worlds]'', where Derby insists to The Accountant that he is not making a "soul-bargain" when he demands the answers to life, the universe, and insomnia.
* ''[[Evil Diva (webcomic)|Evil Diva]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20111117174637/http://www.evildivacomics.com/?p=327 Take your daughter to work and brag of how you get them to sign on.]
* Noah of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' once considered doing this, but [http://egscomics.com/?date=2011-05-30 he was talked out of it while his plans were still in the research phase.]
* A major plot point in ''[[Archipelago]]''. People who make the deal have a raven spirit enter their bodies through their left eye, turning that eye black with a red pupil. He's normally very good about fulfilling his end of the deal.
* Justifed (from the demon's point of view) in ''[[Goblins]]''. Demons feed by inflicting suffering on immortal souls, and if they can gain ownership of a soul, it can provide them with nourishment for the rest of eternity. But most of them aren't powerful enough to take souls by force; they need to persuade mortals into giving their souls up willingly.
* ''Dangerously Chloe'' started with one of the protagonists entering a contract… mostly by accident. Teddy spilled blood on a statue of some demon lord when hiding behind it from security (he [[Curiosity Killed the Cast|burglarized a museum just to get a better look on another item]]), so he was a bit too pressed already to properly think where things are going, rather than just answer the question about what he wants out of it. Which is how he wound up with a succubus assigned as his "girlfriend" and appearing out of thin air immediately. Both got invisible (most of the time) marks on their hands. Fortunately, the succubus was Chloe, not all that keen on having his little sister cry as he's dragged to [[Fire and Brimstone Hell]] after she kills him. Which turns out to be a natural outcome of an inexperienced succubus [[Destructo-Nookie|losing control]] and overloaded with power (what's with feeding on passion) in much less than arm's length of a fragile human, and even mostly-invulnerable creatures get minor injuries, so there's no "[[Did They or Didn't They?]]". Chloe even found a loophole: {{spoiler|if he finds a girlfriend other than herself on his own, the contract is void}}. Except, of course, it wasn't that simple.
== Web Original ==
* ''[[
* {{spoiler|[[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] in}} ''[[Tasakeru]]''. {{spoiler|To save Hanami's life, Zero makes a deal with a God. That's not to say that it won't still have consequences...}}
* In the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'', the mutant codenamed Gypsy gave her soul to The Kellith and accepted a demon mark in exchange for what Gypsy wanted most. Confidence. Since Carmilla has killed The Kellith, Gypsy is now bonded to Carmilla, and things are looking a lot better for her.
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* In ''[[Dark Dream Chronicle]]'', going through Session gives you enhanced strength, stamina, endurance, brainpower, you name it, all at the low low price of giving your Soul to [[The Slender Man Mythos|"the Master"]]. Also, if you aren't Immune, you die horribly around the age of 27. Oh, and if you get picked to be an Enforcer, you get all of your emotions removed. Have fun~
* [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-738 SCP-738] of the [[SCP Foundation]]. The price paid for a deal is something intended to cause emotional pain to the person making the deal, like the death of a best friend or losing all memories of one's mother.
* This [https://web.archive.org/web/20131203084654/http://www.theonion.com/video/witch-who-granted-beyonce-beauty-and-fame-takes-si,27002/ news story] from [[The Onion]] suggests that [[Beyoncé]] made a deal with a witch for talent and fame in exchange for her first child. And as soon as Blue Ivy Carter was born...
* In ''[[Fate By Blades]]'' there is a devil-esque figure who makes deals with mortals, often with the condition that someone involved with said deal take a [[Horny Devil]] consort. The opening antagonist, Gilliam, does this but later breaks his end of the deal, causing his whole rebellion to fail, while Lucas makes a similar deal to acquire a demonic consort to tempt Kona over to his side. Lucas is more successful as Kona ends up joining him.
* Played with in a multi-panel comic which has been circulating through various social media channels for several years as of the early 2020s. In it a single woman summons a demon, who demands to know what she wants. She simply says, "I need a hug", to which the demon replies softly, "Me, too." It closes on [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|the two embracing]].
== Western Animation ==
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* The Robert Johnson story is parodied on ''[[Metalocalypse]]''; the band meets with the "Blues Devil" for the purpose of selling their souls in exchange for mastery of the blues, but through their expertise in contract negotiation bargain him down to a $5 Hot Topic gift card AND part of the Devil's soul. It is unknown whether or not the devil took the deal.
* In the ''[[My Little Pony]]'' episode "Bright Lights," Erebus offered to make Knight Shade famous, in exchange for "a little cooperation" - letting Erebus and his underling Zeb steal the shadows of his audience.
* ''[[Miraculous Ladybug]]'' The deals made between ''[[Big Bad|Hawk Moth]]'' and akuma victims start this way. Such victims are usually at a [[Moment of Weakness]] when it happens, and the akuma amplifies whatever grudge they have to sociopath levels. Unfortunately for Hawk Moth, such pawns often go against his wishes (gaining Ladybug and Cat Noir's kwamis) [[Faustian Rebellion| in order to pursue their own goals]], a problem that has only gotten worse in the second series.
* ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'s'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XReUHG5THro banned episode] shows ''why'' the Devil can't "take the soul and run"—Beelzebub, disguised as a janitor, tells a crude lie to Gosalyn that the Forbidden Book section of the school library was replaced with permitted books, which means she honestly believed she had permission to use it (although she really should have confirmed this claim with a librarian first) so the contract is invalid, and he loses his victim. Don't mistake this for a clever twist - it just makes the whole thing pretty pointless by taking away what's central to the trope. "Your soul is mine forever! Or at least until someone bothers to come fetch you back!"
* Spoofed on ''[[Family Guy]]'' when Peter says he'd sell his soul for the chance to take a tour of the Pawtucket Patriot Ale brewery. The Devil is eager for the opportunity, but then one of his assistants checks through Hell's computer archives and points out that Peter already sold his soul in the 1970s for Bee Gees tickets, and again in the 1980s for half a Malomar. An annoyed Devil wonders where he can get a lawyer, and [[Amoral Attorney|half of Hell's population immediately volunteers for the job]].
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* In ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]'' General Grune, a frustrated wannabe [[The Usurper|usurper]] of his kingdom of Thundera, frees powerful [[Sealed Evil in a Can]], [[Sorcerous Overlord]] and [[Big Bad]] Mumm-Ra in exchange for the promise of power, agreeing to [[Les Collaborateurs|engineer]] Thundera's sacking and serve as [[The Dragon]] until Mumm-Ra gets ahold of an [[Amulet of Concentrated Awesome]]. However, the [[Ambition Is Evil|always ambitious]] Grune is quick to recognize potential opportunities to [[The Starscream|betray his master]], and entrap or leave him for dead.
** In "Native Son", Tygra's backstory shows the consequences of denying the Devil what it wants. {{spoiler|The Tiger Clan was suffering from a plague and their leader Javan petitioned the Ancient Spirits of Evil for help. The Spirits demanded that Javan sacrifice his newborn son Tygra, and Javan agreed. At the moment of truth, Javan betrayed the deal and sent Tygra away on a hot air balloon to Thundera. As punishment, the Spirits sent the plague back to the village, killing everyone, then trapped them in a suspended state between life and death along with involuntary transformations into horrible mindless monsters every night.}}
== Other ==
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* British game retailer GameStation decided to make a point about online Terms & Conditions and how nobody ''ever'' reads them, by [http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/15/online-shoppers-unknowingly-sold-souls/ inserting a clause that the user gives up his soul to them]. They later e-mailed all those who had agreed to the terms assuring them that they would be immediately nullifying any claim they had on their customers' souls. This happened on [[April Fools' Day]], incidentally.
* [[Loan Shark|Loan sharks]]. For a common example, taking a loan out from the mafia or comparable organization of [[Blatant Lies|legitimate businessmen]]. You can get a huge loan, no questions asked, or even access to something else you need... but you'll be paying back a LOT more than you otherwise would, sometimes with your life, organs, or forced service.
** [[wikipedia:Debt bondage|Debt bondage]], debt slavery or bonded labour is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt. The terms of repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated and the person holding the debt has some control over the labourer.
** A similar practice is done by espionage agencies. They will tempt the mark into a "small" treason(such as
* The "deal with the devil" terminology is also used figuratively. If accepting paid adverts allows a publication to be financially viable, but only at the expense of censoring or bowdlerising content [[Think of the Advertisers!|so that it does not offend the advertiser]], the loss of core editorial autonomy can become a deal with the devil by preventing the publication from fulfilling its original mission or objectives.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Native American Mythology]]
[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]
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[[Category:Tropes of the Soul]]
[[Category:Plots]]
▲[[Category:Deal with the Devil]]
[[Category:A Slave to the Index]]
[[Category:Diabolical Plots]]
[[Category:Power Source]]
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